Houston Branch: City and Community Resilience: Disasters, Engineering and Construction Implications, and a Practical Framework Workshop
August 5 @ 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM CDT
The workshop will address City and Community Resilience with examples from disaster relief fieldwork, and structural engineering practice. Impacts of natural disasters will include earthquakes, explosions, and floods as they have distinctive characteristics in terms of loads and effects on the built environment.
The discussion will first focus on the engineering and technical level, describing gaps that require attention in design and construction. It will then turn to the operational level, identifying processes that need to remain functional during and after the disaster event highlighting the role of quality management in public safety. A framework is presented to illustrate how the physical and operational levels need to be driven by preventative measures and policies at a strategic level to support methodical planning, decision-making, and implementation.
Scope Summary
– Disasters: city preparedness and community response
– Damage assessment, nature of loads and engineering implications
o Field examples from earthquakes, explosions, and floods
– Safety inspection and recovery
– Prevention versus reaction: from Physical Assets to Operations and Strategy
– Recommendations
Michel Soto Chalhoub PhD, PE, SE, MPP Principal
Integrated Services CEM LLC
Dr. Michel Soto Chalhoub has over 35 years of experience in civil-structural engineering design, construction, and in Strategy Management Consulting. He planned and delivered complex heavy civil, transportation, data center solar farms, and water infrastructure in various regions. He developed innovative structural design solutions against seismic and blast loads, dynamics of structures, and marine works. Michel provides owner-advisory services in program management, constructability, risk analysis, safety and QA/QC. He served in senior roles in leading US corporations such as Parsons, Gemini Consulting, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, and InterPublic Group, and as a university faculty member. Dr. Chalhoub holds PE and SE licenses in California, Texas, and multiple states, is a member of CAL-OES and leads teams in response to natural disasters, assesses damage, performs forensic engineering, and develops recovery and reconstruction solutions. He holds a PhD in Structural Engineering from the UC Berkeley, and a Master’s in Business-Government Policy from Harvard University.
